The Vancougar Volume 28 Issue 12 by The VanCougar

March 5, 2018

VanCougar THE

First copy free

Vol. 28 Issue 12

Candidates compete for student government positions p. 5 Travel CafĂŠ p.7 Engineering a community for women p.9

THE SKINNY: What’s going down on campus

(3/6) Woman in Engineering Panel 5:00-7:00 p.m. in Engineering and Computer Science Building, Room 105. Join us for an inspiring evening with talented women working in some of the top tech companies in Southwest Washington and Portland. (3/12-16) SPRING BREAK! NO CLASSES! University is open. (3/21) Creative Writer Series: Justin Hocking 7:00 p.m. in Library Building, Room 240. Hocking’s “The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld” is a multifaceted modern odyssey that touches on everything from the history of surfing to the environmental impact of the Iraq War. (3/27) DACAmented: The Voices of DACA

Students

12:00-1:15 p.m. in Dengerink Administration Building, Room 110. Learn what DACA is, updates on its current status and how it impacts the lives of students who are pursuing a college degree. The stories of DACA students will be shared and discussed. This event is free and open to the public. (3/28) Creative Writer Series: April Henry 7:00 p.m. in Library Building, Room 240. Henry is the bestselling author of more than 20 mysteries for young adults and adults, including the Point Last Seen series. She travels the country visiting schools to advocate for the importance of writing and developing the kind of research skills she uses in her own work. (3/29) Woman of Distinction 6:00 p.m. in Firstenburg Student Commons. Women of Distinction celebrates Women’s History Month, observed each year in March, and recognizes women who have made a difference in the lives of others. To RSVP, or to see more details, visit: http://bit.ly/WomenofDistinct

Mission Statement: The VanCougar is a student-run newspaper serving the students, faculty and staff of WSU Vancouver. The VanCougar is available at distribution sites in the lobbies of most WSU Vancouver buildings The VanCougar may be viewed online at thevancougar.com Correction Policy: It is the policy of The VanCougar to correct errors. Please contact the editor via email at van.vancouged@wsu.edu On the Cover: Candidates for ASWSUV president and vice president debate on Feb. 28. Read the story on page 6. (Photo/Steven Cooper)

Contents

3 Teaching diversity on campus 7 Travel Café

A world beyond photography all from the comfort of your campus.

Student senator advocates more ethnic studies

5 Candidates compete for

student government positions

Before reading further, check the date. If it is March 7 or earlier, you still have time to vote in the 2018 student government elections for the Associated Students at Washington State University Vancouver.

9 Engineering a community for women

Engineering is one of the highest paid careers available in the United States, but some women are getting left behind. A new club on campus wants to wants to change that.

VanCougar THE

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Steven Cooper MANAGING-EDITOR Nick Freese LAYOUT EDITOR Marco Morales ADVISOR Raul Moreno

WEB AND SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER July Canilao

TEAM EDITORS Bailley Simms Nikki Johnson

ADVERTISING MANAGER Catherine Chaisson

REPORTERS Ginger Clarke Katherine O’Boyle Sofia Grande Alex Duffield

PHOTOGRAPHER Zeke Estes

93 You get a chance to have that critical “dialogue that doesn’t exist when you’re in an online platform. So even if we were to have Pullman teachers teach us, I think that we would still be losing a portion of what we needed to have. Holly Varner

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For more information on the Stanford study, go to http://bit.ly/EthnicStudy

Holly Varner. (Photo/Holly Varner)

Teaching diversity on campus Student senator advocates more ethnic studies

Ginger Clarke Reporter One of the five goals listed in WSU Vancouver’s strategic plan is equity and diversity. One student on campus has taken that goal to heart through an effort to improve the number of ethnic studies courses on campus. Student government Senator Holly Varner created a survey to identify interests in a set of ethnic studies classes that could be offered on campus. Varner received 200 copies of the survey from students as a result of tabling. A majority of the surveys revealed students would take more ethnic studies courses if they were offered. The campus currently offers two ethnic studies courses: Chicana studies and Latin American studies. Some of the possible classes listed on the survey include: gender Issues in Asian-American studies, racial patterns of urbanization, queer/trans people of color, arts and activism, and others. Varner compared WSU Vancouver to other colleges, such as Stanford University, Portland State University, and even the main campus of WSU-Pullman. She found Pullman offers a wider selection of ethnic studies courses and PSU offers over 200.

Varner was inspired by a Stanford study that looked at the effects of students who took more ethnic studies classes. Postdoctoral researcher Emily Penner and professor Thomas S. Dee worked with the San Francisco Unified School District in a research-practice partnership and discovered a positive correlation between the number of ethnic studies classes taken and a gain in attendance and grades. Varner, who is graduating this spring, conducted the survey in order to build a foundation for future students by pushing for more diverse classes to be taught on campus. While WSU allows students from other campuses to take online courses provided by the Pullman campus, Varner said in-person courses are better because they engage students better. She explained, “You get a chance to have that critical dialogue that doesn’t exist when you’re in an online platform. So even if we were to have Pullman teachers teach us, I think that we would still be losing a portion of what we needed to have.” For more information on the Stanford study, go to http://bit. ly/EthnicStudy

March 5 – 9 is Open Educa?on Week! WSU Vancouver is Open to:

~Increasing Access to Knowledge, ~Facilita5ng Collabora5on, ~Raising Research Visibility, and ~Talking about Open Educa5onal Resources (OER)

Please plan to a6end a presenta8on about open textbooks and OER at WSU Vancouver.

Tuesday, March 6, 1-‐2pm, VLIB 265 Sponsored by the Library & Academic Aﬀairs

Advertise with us! Email VancougAd@wsu.edu or VancougME@wsu.edu for more info!

Where WheretotoVote Vote

Left: Zeke Estes, right: Caroline Brenner. (Photo/Amy Roberts)

March 1-7: ASWSUV.com March 5: Polling stations at March 5: Polling Dengerink Administration stations at Dengerink Building or the Building Administration Engineering and and or the Engineering Computer ComputerScience Science Building Building

Candidates compete for student government positions Alex Duffield Reporter Before reading further, check the date. If it is March 7 or earlier, you still have time to vote in the 2018 student government elections for the Associated Students at Washington State University Vancouver. Elections opened on ASWSUV.com on March 1, with 14 candidates competing for senatorial positions and two tickets for the presidential and vice presidential office. The executive ballots include students who are no strangers to the workings of ASWSUV. On one ticket, Vicente Chavez is running for president with his vice presidential running mate, Davina Cepeda. On the other, Caroline Brenner for president with Zeke Estes for vice president. Chavez and Cepeda say they plan to implement “ACT,” a three-pillared platform promoting advocacy, compassion and transparency. Their plan largely involves continued community outreach efforts, creating resource awareness and fostering Cougar pride. “Hopefully with promoting the VanCoug identity there could be confirmation of more growth in self-identity,” said Cepeda. “Some students, they’re so used to the ‘classroom, home, classroom, home.’ Hopefully we can encourage promoting their own self-identity and diversity. Diversity doesn’t have to include just culture. It’s deeper than skin. Diversity can be personality and your beliefs.” Cepeda said, explaining the motivation behind their agenda. Brenner and Estes have developed a four-tiered platform based on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: accessibility, transparency, communication and involvement. “The basis of

Maslow’s hierarchy says in order for people to feel emotionally safe in their life they need to have their basic needs taken care of first, so they need to know where their next meal is coming from and that they’ll be safe,” Brenner said. “We believe that on campus, it’s the same thing. Before we can expect people to want to be involved and be on campus, they need to feel safe and valued and have their basic needs taken care of. I think in terms of attention that’s at the forefront, making sure that students want to be here as much as we want them to be here.” Chavez explained a little more about himself and his vision as a student leader. He grew up in Vancouver after his family immigrated from Veracruz, Mexico, and is currently a second year neuroscience and biology double-major, minoring in chemistry. “Growing up in poverty, I grew up not having a voice in any system I was in. It was a lot of having to figure it out on my own and having to uncover the world and the reality that I was living in,” Chavez said, describing his personal struggle. He emphasized this issue as being much deeper than skin. Chavez works with the College Access Program, visiting local low-income schools like MLK Elementary and Fort Vancouver High School. The program promotes the idea of college and aims to create an understanding of university vocabulary by explaining the concept of tuition and scholarships. “I didn’t have that vision, because there was no structure. It was just a blind step forward when you were growing up, so I want to really establish what university is.” Chavez said that he receives Pell grant, Washington State Need grant and has a

Where vote Where toto Vote

March 6: Polling stations at the March 6: Polling stations Libraryatand Undergraduate thethe Library and the building Undergraduate building March 7: Polling stations March 7: Polling stations TheBookie Bookieand andthe the atatThe Quad. Quad. Left: Davina Cepeda, right: Vicente Chavez. (Photo/Michael Tran)

College Bound scholarship. His goal is to make sure students are aware of these financial programs. Chavez is a peer mentor and Student Ambassador on campus and believes his experience and personal vision will be key to bringing new students to WSU Vancouver and pride to the campus environment. Brenner is a Vancouver native and a third year mechanical engineering major. She explained meeting her running mate Estes when they were both freshman minoring in computer science. “As much as we’re going into it with our own agenda and our own platform, there’s also 11 senators and seven executive staff positions that are coming in with their own ideas and platforms,” Brenner explained. She said that her biggest asset in this campaign is her experience on campus, especially within student government. She has served as major events coordinator for the Student Activities Board, ROAR orientation leader for the Office of Student Involvement, director of leadership development for ASWSUV and as vice president of American Society of Mechanical Engineering. “This is my third year, consecutively, in student government. I bring knowledge of all of the purchasing processes and all of the travel paperwork. There’s a huge learning curve when you’re coming into student government fresh. I’ve climbed that curve not once, not twice, but three times,” she said. “We know what works and what doesn’t work in student government. Zeke and I are both going into it with a lot of experience and knowledge and we’re not making promises that we know we can’t follow through on.” Brenner concluded, “Everything in our campaign that we address we know that we can address in office.”

Cepeda, Chavez’s running mate, was born in Guam and is a third year integrated strategic communications major, minoring in political science. She is currently an ASWSUV senator, a student worker in Student Affairs and a SALT ambassador. “A lot of students come to the Cougar Center with questions or concerns and so from my position there, I’ve gained a lot of knowledge,” Cepeda said, describing their plan to better inform students of the available resources on campus. She said her experience working with the Cougar Food Pantry has made her aware of the need to go beyond open door policy student contact. “I want students to know these resources are accessible to them,” Cepeda said, stressing the need to seek out opportunities to engage with students. Estes, Brenner’s running mate, is from Woodland, Washington, and is a third year electrical engineering major, minoring in mathematics. He is an office assistant for the chancellor, ASWSUV senate secretary, Student Media Board chair and has contributed to student orientation and involvement. Estes brings experience from a variety of campus organizations, but he stressed that the student body voice would guide his and Brenner’s executive decisions. “The issues I want to tackle are the issues this student body wants fixed the most. It’s not about me, it’s about them, and we just have to listen,” he said. Estes spoke of the student government’s struggle with “inclusion in ensuring our student body has a voice” and shared Brenner’s confidence in their experiential ability to amplify the student voice. “We understand the process the organization must take to enact change,” he said, “This means that not only do we have a vision, but also an execution plan.” For more information on the election, visit ASWSUV.com or visit the “Election Board” page on CougSync. Election results will be announced March 7 at 8 p.m. in the Firstenburg Student Commons, room 104.

left to right: Alex Duffield, Vicki Tolmacheva, Richard Boneski III, Taylor Riordan, McKenzie Wells, Kaitlyn Slorey.

Travel Café

A world beyond photography Katie O’Boyle Reporter As participants browsed the rows of photos on display at the annual Travel Café on Feb. 16, the smell of coffee hung heavy in the air. This year the photos had the common theme of theme of travel and “bliss.” According to the Office of Student Involvement, Travel Café is an “annual WSU Vancouver photography contest for students, faculty and staff, co-sponsored by The Salmon Creek Journal and the Office of Student Involvement.” Alex Duffield, editor-in-chief of the Salmon Creek Journal, said they received 86 photos from 37 people, which included students, alumni and staff. He and his team selected 44 of those photos to be included in the event. All photo submissions will be included in the 2018 editor of the Salmon Creek Journal. Taylor Riordan, a WSUV senior majoring in DTC, described the photo he submitted from a trip to New Zealand. “One of the things that left the greatest impression on me was the mountains I would see. This one was one of my favorite mountains on one of my favorite mornings.” Riordan placed first in the competition and received a 20x30 inch metal print of his piece titled “Above the Clouds.” Another notable artist who proved to have a keen eye for black and white photography was Dale T. Strouse, a community member and former Travel Café judge. His piece titled, “Icy Beach” was taken during a 15-day trip traveling through Iceland along a place called Ring Road. “Icy Road” won second place in the main competition and Strouse received a 20x30 inch canvas print of his art. The three best of the top ten were featured later in the event and given awards.

Three people judged the contest: Harrison Higgs, a fine arts professor at WSU Vancouver, Valerie Parrish, a DCT and fine arts student and Maggie Handran, a psychology and fine art student. In addition to the awards determined by the judges, contributors vied for the audience choice award and the social media award. Observers at the showcase cast ballots indicating their favorite with the the most popular photo receiving the audience choice award. The next seven most popular photos received the social media award and were featured on the Salmon Creek Journal’s social media pages. Joseph Colombo with his photo titled “Ephemeral Light” won the audience choice award. Photo themes seemed to revolve around landscapes with a few scattered profile shots. The photos mostly represented different views of what traveling meant to the various artists. One photo by Nicholas Benko was taken upside down and through a glass ball, making the photo come out strikingly clear and right side up. Benko’s piece is titled “Upside Down” and was amongst the top ten best photos in the gallery. Benko also won the social media award. The Travel Café showcased everyone’s diverse ideas of what adventure and happiness looks like to them. Don’t miss out on next year’s Travel Café, and don’t forget to submit your own artwork too.

Students view photos on display at Travel CafĂŠ. (Photo/Ginger Clark)

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In engineering, I’ve had to learn that you have to be willing to fail. Even if you can just be confidently wrong, or confidently fail. -Melissa Zapp/CWE outreach coordinator

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Engineering a community for Sofia Grande women Reporter

Engineering is one of the highest paid careers available in the United States, but some women are getting left behind. A new club on campus wants to wants to change that. A group of women studying STEM at WSU Vancouver founded a student club called the Community of Women Engineers last semester. According to the club’s community outreach coordinator, Melissa Zapp, the club exists to strengthen the connection between women in engineering and the community that surrounds them. Engineering is one of the most male-dominated industries and has a 10.8 percent gender wage gap. With fewer women in engineering, and the pressure of earning less than men, it makes being a woman in the field intimidating. The club’s community outreach coordinator Melissa Zapp said the club believes outreach to girls in local schools is important. “We go to Discovery Middle School and actually twice a month we speak to girls about engineering topics,” she said. Going to talk to young girls in school can help them overcome the social norms that make girls feel like they can’t go into engineering, she explained. When young girls are taught about engineering, they open a door to a new generation of female engineers. Lindsey Robinson, treasurer for CWE stated, “We really just are out to encourage younger women that are maybe scared to enter the

field or what not to be able to strive to do. Like it’s possible— we’re here—we’re doing it. You want to encourage others to do it.” The club tries to encourage girls to make mistakes and teaches that challenges are essential to growth. “In engineering, I’ve had to learn that you have to be willing to fail,” explained Zapp. She, along with President Brittany Wood, encourage girls to not be afraid to fail or get challenged in their major because it helps them grow and nothing should discourage them from following their passion. The women from CWE also believe the wage gap needs to be a global conversation, but are trying to do their part to stop the divide between men and women in the same career. The women from CWE believe the wage gap needs to be a solved as part of a global conversation. They also say they want to bridge the divide between men and women in the same career. They want to recruit both men and women to create an environment of support and success. To learn more about CWE, the club is inviting people to attend an event March 6, from 5 to 7 p.m. Women who work in the technology fields will host a panel in the Engineering and Computer Science Building, room 105.

From left to right: Treasurer Lindsey Robinson, Community Outreach Coordinator Melissa Zapp, President Brittany Wood. (Photo/Sofia Grande)

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